Concern reached 23 million people in 27 countries last year

“The contexts in which Concern works are becoming increasingly fragile,” Chief Executive Officer Dominic Crowley said. “Humanitarian need continued to rise during 2025, while global funding for official development assistance declined, amid heightened geopolitical instability and weakening multilateral cooperation.”

“Increases in the number and intensity of conflicts, and reduced adherence to international humanitarian law are contributing to persistent and deepening levels of suffering, displacement, extreme poverty, hunger and malnutrition,” he said.

Against this backdrop, the Irish humanitarian organisation’s teams in 27 of the world’s poorest countries worked tirelessly to support vulnerable communities. “In a world dominated by bad news, the 2025 Annual Report highlights many uplifting achievements as a result of the extraordinary dedication of our teams and the tremendous generosity of our donors and supporters who funded the work,” Mr. Crowley said.

Among the examples highlighted in the annual report is the Irish Aid-funded Hanaano programme to tackle child wasting (a severe form of malnutrition where a child is too thin for their height, often caused by acute undernutrition or illness). Working in 105 hardest-to-reach communities along the Kenya/Somalia/Ethiopia border, it has reached 300,000 people. 

Concern responded to 45 emergencies in 22 countries last year. These included:

• Sudan, where Concern reached more than 744,000 people. The response included supporting health and nutrition centres and mobile clinics, delivering pharmaceutical and nutrition supplies, and providing cash assistance to the most at-risk households.
• Gaza, working through our partner CESVI, we provided 75,000 litres of clean water each month to people in displacement camps.
• Democratic Republic of the Congo, where we oversaw 11 emergency responses in 2025 amid sharp escalations in the conflict in the east of the country. 

During 2025 we improved the food security and livelihoods of 951,000 people directly, and 1.7 million indirectly, across 16 countries.

• In Pakistan, Concern linked 1,800 women-led businesses to national and international markets to sell handicrafts, honey, and pickled- and dried fruits. The programme reached 780,000 people.
• In Niger, where only one-eighth of the land is considered arable, Concern worked to rehabilitate degraded land and foster peaceful coexistence and better management of natural resources among farming and pastoral communities. Land was recovered via a cash-for-work project, grazing land was re-seeded for pastoralists, eco-stoves were provided to prevent further land degradation, and presses and shelling machines were provided to make oil from peanut crops.

Our health and nutrition programmes reached 639,000 people directly, and over 2.3 million indirectly, across nine countries.

• In Somalia, applying the CMAM Surge approach – using health centre data and other key information to treat malnutrition before it starts by tracking predictable “surges” in given areas – Concern reached over 295,000 people last year and treated over 85,000 for acute malnutrition. 
• In Yemen, where maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world, Concern established a reproductive health unit in Lahj, reaching 2,600 people in the first year. The six health facilities supported by Concern in Yemen provided outpatient consultations to 43,000 people last year.
• In Afghanistan, we supported the establishment of eight family health clinics in remote areas. To strengthen community outreach, we trained community health workers and established family health action groups. These services treated over 60,000 people last year.

Our education programmes reached 144,000 people directly, and 437,000 indirectly, across 10 countries.

• In Burkina Faso, an estimated 10% of the population – including school-aged children -- is displaced due to a protracted security crisis in the region. Concern launched its first education programme last year, enrolling 2,000 internally displaced children. School kits were distributed to children who were displaced, as well as members of the host community. School teams were trained on how to prevent, detect and manage gender-based violence, temporary education spaces were built and new latrines and water points constructed.
• In Ethiopia, recent conflict in Tigray has had a devastating impact on the local education system. Working with Czech NGO, People In Need, Concern launched an emergency education intervention to foster access to safe, inclusive, and quality learning environments for crisis-affected children. In addition to rehabilitating classrooms and teachers’ rooms and providing classroom furniture at two primary schools, it also provided three wells, upgraded latrine blocks and installed handwashing stations. Learning kits were provided to 1,440 children. The initiative reached 5,500 people. 

Concern reached 289,000 people directly through our integrated programmes, and a further 862,000 indirectly, across 12 countries.

• In Burundi, over 55% of children are chronically undernourished, according to the 2025 Global Hunger Index. Concern is implementing a programme which combines nutrition, health, resilience, and agriculture interventions for families. The health and nutrition elements focus on the prevention, early detection, and treatment of malnutrition. Work to build long-term resilience progressed through the establishment and support of 820 village savings and loans associations. Several of these groups focused on collective farming, cultivating common fields with climate-resilient seeds provided by Concern and linking farmers with markets and local millers to produce fortified flour. Over 158,000 people were reached. 

Last year Concern spent €206.8 million, of which 90.7% was used for charitable activities. The organisation’s income was €205 million. €40.6 million of this was raised from the public in the Republic of Ireland (€27.8M), the UK and South Korea. Given the wider pattern of aid cuts, our public fundraising has assumed an even greater importance, and was our largest single source of funding in 2025.

The Irish government was Concern’s single largest donor, providing €38.4 million (18.6%), followed by the US government (via Concern US) €29.8 million (14.4%), the European Union €29.1 million (14.1%) and the British government €28.4 million (13.7%).

“We are deeply grateful to our donors – the public, the trusts and foundations, private companies and institutional donors – for their continuing generosity and trust in us which enables us to work with communities to tackle extreme poverty and hunger,” Mr Crowley said.

In response to cuts to official development assistance funding by a number of countries, Mr Crowley said Concern was compelled to take the difficult decision to close its country programmes in North Korea (DPRK), Lebanon, and Rwanda.  It also implemented redundancies in all its support offices and countries of operation. 

“While these decisions were deeply difficult, they were necessary to ensure that Concern remained resilient and able to meet its commitment to maximising its impact and transforming lives worldwide,” he said.

To read the Concern Worldwide 2025 Annual Report click here

For media queries and interview requests contact Eamon Timmins, Media Relations Manager, Concern Worldwide, at eamon.timmins@concern.net or 087 9880524